Disclaimer: I'm only gonna say this once, I own nottin but wut I make up along the way, and u'll know wut I mean when I get there…enjoy!

Summary:  Author Notes: Okay, this is going to be a looonnnggg story, it's about Harry finding out he actually has a father, the Dursley's abuse Harry, don't worry though, nothing to graphic. He's going to find out more about himself, old enemies will become new friends, old friends will become new enemies, also appearances by old Characters and old friends, also new animals.

Rating….around R I think

Pairings: H/D later and some R/Hr                           

       

       Prologue – Contemplations and Confrontations

         Remus Lupin, one of the teachers at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sat his desk in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom contemplating on one of his favorite students.  He knew from this particular student's third year that something wasn't quite right in his household, and yet he had done nothing about it.  He was starting to get worried though, usually his student would write letters fluently throughout the summer, and yet this summer he had only got two letters, one at the beginning of each month, and they both seemed like they were written forcefully and they were not as happy as they usually were.

         Professor Lupin sighed for the millionth time thinking about this.  He could sense something was wrong with Harry because of his highly acute senses.  Because of his suspicions, none of them too positive, he decided to inform Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, of these suspicions.

         It would be Harry's, his favorite student, and one of his old best friend's son, fifth year at Hogwarts.  He knew that Harry had problems at home, he just hoped that they weren't as bad as he suspected, if they were, he just hoped that Harry would make it back to school when it starts.

         As Remus pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind, he thought on how he got the position as Professor back again.  Albus had fought tooth and nail with the School Board in order for Remus to get his job back.  You see, once people found out about his 'condition' they would either fire him from his job, or force him to leave wherever he was.

Since Remus was young he has had to hide from people.  Every full moon, including the night before and after, he would become a coldhearted monster.  The first light of the moon would initiate the most excruciating and painful change anyone would probably ever have to experience.  His body shrinks and expands in different places.  In a matter of moments, where once a man had stood, now stood, on four paws a ruthless killer.  His mournful howl strikes fear into every creature, magical or not.  It signified years of pain and loneliness and yet, it shows the truth that is buried within this warmhearted professor.

Remus Lupin has always dreaded these nights.  He is afraid that he might somehow injure or pass on his curse to another and deal them a dreadful card in their hand of life.  The professor is afraid to wake in the morning to find blood on himself, whether it would be his own or someone else's.  Every month, of every year, since the day he was inflicted with this card, he transforms into the wolf of every child's, muggle or magical, nightmare.  The wolf inside of him takes full control and howling with all its might, the wolf tells the world of its finally having achieved its freedom.  Even if it is for only one night, the wolf is free to wreak whatever havoc it desires.  It is torment for both the wolf and the man though, fighting for control over the other for eternity.  This, however, is a battle that can never be won for either of them.

With a start Remus snaps out of his thoughts.  He has always hated that part of himself and yet he has learned to live with it.  He thought to himself, a hint of amusement in his eyes, 'Even if it does taste terrible, the Wolfsbane potion allows me to keep my mind while I am in wolf form so it is well worth it.'

The wolf in Remus is the reason why he quit his job as a Professor of Hogwarts.  His secret got out at the end of the year and because he didn't want any of the students to get hurt, he resigned.  He also decided to resign because he thought the parents would hate him because of all the legends that stated all werewolves were evil and cold hearted.  When in fact, many of the parents were frightened that he would somehow bite one of the students and either injure them or infect them.  Despite the situation, Dumbledore convinced the parents that Remus is harmless with the potion.  He also convinced Remus to come back and teach.  Professor Remus was slightly nervous about coming back even though it would be fun to teach again, especially his fifth year Gryffindors.

         With this thought he was once again brought to the subject of young Harry Potter.  'Of course he isn't young anymore, he is now fifteen,' he thought to himself.  Also, from what Lily had once told him and if his own calculations were correct, Harry would look quite different when he came back to school this year.  Remus of course, would have to talk to one of the Professors here.  Even if they didn't get along that well, he owed it not only to Lily, but to Harry too.

With one more mournful glance around the classroom, he decided to finally talk to him.  He knew it wasn't going to be easy, 'but Severus Snape has the right to know the truth,' he thought to himself.  Remus knows that this is especially important to do now since someone will suspect something when they see Harry this year.  After collecting his thoughts and getting a final conclusion in his eyes, he gets up and leaves his office and heads for the Dungeons.

Behind him, the fire burnt merrily in the fireplace, as if it approved of the Professor's decision.  Besides the flickering flames from the fire, the classroom looked as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.  The fire continued to lick the stone grate around it as if trying to escape its prison long after the Professor left not knowing the serious truths that would be revealed within the next twenty four hours.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus Snape, Hogwarts Potions Professor, and Potions Master sat silently in his classroom thinking about the past.  Not many people knew the truth about himself and Lily Evans, not even the idiot James Potter.  In school, Lily and himself had been friends, closer even, although their houses forbid their relationship. 

They would always meet in the Library to have study sessions.  They would help each other with their weak subjects, Lily would help Severus in Transfiguration, and Severus would help Lily with Potions.  After a while they grew apart because of the Marauders and their pranks, during their fifth year, Lily had went to Potter, Severus' eye's darkened with that memory, they had started dating and Lily had totally forgotten about Severus.  They would of course talk civilly towards each other, but never like they used to, Severus became a loner like he used to be, and Lily spent all her time with the Marauders, mostly Potter.

Years after they graduated, and Severus became a loyal Death Eater to the Dark Lord, Severus found out the Lord's plan on destroying the Potters, Severus's feelings had never really changed towards Lily, so he decided to try and save her life, he went to Albus Dumbledore, one of the only people Lord Voldemort was frightened of. 

He told the Professor all about the Dark Lord's plans, under a truth potion of course, so the Headmaster knew he was telling the truth.  Severus was still believed as a loyal Death Eater, after relieving his information to the Headmaster, Lily and James Potter were sent into hiding and Severus became a spy for the side of light from that moment on.

On one of the missions, he was meant to retrieve something from the Potter's home and Dumbledore to do it at whatever measures necessary, of course he did, but regrets it more than anything.

He was quickly taken out of his thoughts at the persistent knockings at the door, grumbling to himself he quickly gets up and answers it, only to find one of his rivals from school, one of the marauders that had stolen Lily from him, the one that he had tried to get rid of two years ago by letting his secret 'slip,' and yet, he had returned.

He gives Remus Lupin one of his famous sneers, not moving to let him in.  "What do you want Lupin?"

"I need to talk to you Severus…it's about Lily."  He replies calmly, if a little quietly.

"What exactly do you mean?  If it's just to rub the fact in my face about her and Potter, I must inform you to leave."  Severus says in a deadly calm voice.

Remus doesn't seem to be effected at all by his threat, and instead asks to be let in.  Grudgingly, Snape allows him to enter his classroom and follows him to the front, Remus sitting in a seat in front of the desk while Snape takes the seat behind it.

Looking into the fire, Remus clears his throat and in an unwavering voice, starts explaining his unannounced visit.  "Severus, do you remember, that time when I found you leaving Lily and James house one morning, around 15 years ago?"

Looking up sharply, Severus contemplates his answer carefully before answering, "I do, although I have no idea why this concerns me right now Re-."

But he was cut off by Remus interrupting him, his voice cold, which was unusually for the Professor.  "It has everything to do with this.  After that day, Lily began to get sick, and have mood swings, she confided in me what had happened that night, she suspected it wasn't James because he came home the next day, apparently clueless about what happened two nights ago."

Severus paled with each word Remus spoke, thinking about what he was saying, his voice inside of him kept telling him one thing, but he chose to ignore it and hope that what Remus was saying had nothing to do with it.

"Around nine months later, she gave birth to Harry, not telling a single soul about her suspicion but me, she could tell that Harry wasn't James Potter's son, as everyone suspected.  She cast an extremely powerful spell over Harry when he was young that was to last until his fifteenth birthday, when it would wear off within minutes of midnight."

Remus looked over to Severus only to find the Professor deep in though, staring into the fire, after a few moments he looked up, his face totally blank with nothing showing in his eyes, although Remus could sense a certain feeling radiating off of Snape that enforced Remus' thoughts and he continued on.

"I have a strong suspicion that you know exactly what I mean Severus, and he has to know the truth, whether or not you would like him to."

Severus looks up as Remus finishes, he has his doubts, but deep inside he knew that the man in front of him was telling the truth, although he couldn't think of the possibilities that this information could suggest.  After all he's done to him, how could it possibly be true, they absolutely loathed each other…didn't they?

As Remus watched the man in front of him, he watched several emotions cross the usually emotionless professor's face, first was disbelief, to angry, to confusion, to self loathing, to dread, and finally, something that looked oddly like hope.

After Remus let Severus collect his thoughts, he cleared his throat.  "I suspect that you would like to hear about the spell, and believe me when I tell you this Severus, Harry will understand.  That child, well teenager now, doesn't have it in him to hate anyone, I even wonder if he hates the Dark Lord.  It might take a while, and there might be some rough times, but in the end, I truly believe that Harry will understand."

Severus looks up at Remus for a moment before looking back into the fire, his face becoming a blank mask once again.  After a minute or so passed, he finally speaks up in a small voice.  "How can he possibly believe this, after all I've done to him, he'll think its just some cruel trick that I'm doing to make fun of him.  He'll never believe it Remus, he thinks I loathe him, and I'm fairly certain that the feeling is mutual.  How could we…what could we possibly do to show him it's the truth.  I mean, I'm not exactly sure on what I'm feeling, you know I'm not a people person,"  he grudgingly replies, a feeling of mutual respect coming between the two with the understanding of the tasks ahead.

Remus takes a deep breath, and slowly lets it out, trying to collect his thoughts.  "Well, the first thing we should do is to tell Dumbledore, I mean if we are to tell Harry, the Headmaster has to know."

Severus merely gives a slight tip of his head to show he agrees, allowing Remus to continue.  

"I'm sure that, if we don't come up with anything, Albus will figure something out, you know as well as I do that Harry trusts him, maybe even more than me."

"What will Albus say when he finds out, how do you know that it'll be positive anyways.  Wait a minute, why the hell are you telling me this now?  Why not in his third year?  Why now of all times?"

"Well," Remus says picking his words carefully, "the spell Lily cast will wear off on his fifteenth birthday, not only that, I have a certain suspicion that…Harry's…err…home life isn't going very well.  In fact, I have a reason to believe that it's not going very well at all, and if that's the truth, then only a living family member could take him away from the muggles."

Severus looks up sharply, his eyes becoming darker and darker with every word that Remus says, at the end his eyes are almost totally black.  "What aren't you telling me Lupin?"  Severus basically snarls.

Remus looks slightly troubled, as if he's trying to decide whether or not to tell Severus the truth.  After a minute, with Severus never taking his eyes off him, he sighs.  "In Harry's third year, on the train when he fainted because of the dementor, his shirt rode up a little on his back, no one else noticed it because they were to busy with there own thoughts.  Harry's stomach and back, from what I could see were covered in bruises…"

Remus let this sink in for a second and then continued on before Severus had the chance to question him.  "I discreetly put a note inside Harry's pocket," he smiles and says in a sarcastic voice, "ironically my werewolf abilities come in handy once in a while.  Anyways," he shakes his head to clear it.  "The note asked him to come up to my room after the feast, not wanting to draw attention, I told him to use his father's cloak.  I knew that this would spark his interest, he knew that not many people knew about James' cloak, let alone that he had it."

He sighs deeply before continuing on, "like I asked, he came, although I should say a little bit on the frightened side.  I asked him what he was frightened of after I gave him some tea," Remus chuckles softly remembering his first talk with Harry.  "He told me that he was afraid I would be mad at him for showing a weakness against the dementors, anyways I explained that I asked him up for a different reason, the boy literally sunk in his chair.  He was obviously relieved, that is until I said what I had seen.  I've never seen anyone change emotions so quickly, so many emotions spread across his face that I had no idea what to do.  So I waited until he was somewhat calmed down, some of the emotions I could pick out were fear, anger, shame, he was also very confused, but what really touched me was that tiniest hint of hope, that little spark told me that no one knew about this.  That I would be able to at least help him, if not get him away from them."

Severus at this point seemed to get a hold of himself and he interrupted, "what do you mean 'them?'  Will you just tell me already instead of hopping around the subject Remus?!" he says half exasperated, half afraid of what might be actually said.

Remus looks at him piercingly for a moment, measuring up Severus, seeing if he could tell him the truth, and how he could say it.  After a moment of complete silence, Severus slightly begging with his eyes to tell him the truth, Remus sighs and continues in a dead voice, empty of all emotion what so ever.

"He told me then, with the help of a discreet, wandless calming charm, what happens every summer when he returns to the muggles.  He told me all that they have done, all that they did before he was sent the letter about Hogwarts."  Holding a hand up to stop Severus' interjection he continues.  "He told me that Vernon would beat him for any little thing that had gone wrong in the house before he left for Hogwarts, no matter how small it was.  He told me that this had gone on for as long as he could remember, Dudley, his cousin, had this sport that he and his friends had done that was called Harry Hunting, you can probably guess as to what it was about.

"Harry told me he didn't know what it was like to be loved as a kid, he never had anyone to show him parental affection, he even told me about how he didn't have any friends because of Dudley and his gang.  Anyways, Harry told me that the beatings had stopped after he first left for school, but had started up the summer after his second year for reasons he didn't know.  After he told me all this I healed him, he refused to go to the hospital wing even more so about going to the headmaster.  He thought himself a disgrace, and didn't want to tell Albus about something that would make him look down on himself.

"He begged for me to not tell anyone, and I had to promise, although I taught him some muggle ways of bandaging, since he couldn't use magic over the holidays.  I taught him everything I knew that I thought would help him through the summer, I even bought him some magical healing gems from some stores in Diagon Alley.  He told me that he would owl me if anything happened the next summer, he didn't know it but if he said anything wrong I was going to go straight to Dumbledore.  As it turned out, that summer nothing appeared to happen, I guessed that they had stopped abusing him because of Sirius' reputation.  We stayed in contact over the year, well him with Sirius mostly because he didn't want his friends to find out anything was happening."

Severus, after hearing all this finally got his voice back, "You mean to tell me that my SON is being beaten by an obese MUGGLE?!"  He basically roars, his eyes flashing black with rage, Remus actually flinches back from the rage that is rolling off of the Potions Master.